Bulk of CWG tickets came late from Nasik, many wasted

NEW DELHI - Of the 1.7 million Commonwealth Games (CWG) tickets, all designed to prevent couterfeiting, the bulk reached counters here a day after the opening ceremony — some so late they ended up with the scrap dealer, unused.

The CWG organising committee began ticket sales Aug 25. The tickets were specially designed, bearing a hologram like the Indian rupee note, and printed at a high security Nasik press. But the bulk came late and could not reach over 40 counters in Delhi in time.

As the tickets came late, they were delivered to the counters late. So the tickets for the initial days’ events were not available, an official who did not want to named told IANS.

The official said the tickets were specially designed to prevent counterfeiting. Like the Indian rupee, the tickets were printed on the same paper bearing a security thread. To make copying tough, the tickets were churned out at the same press in Nasik as rupee bank notes.

The official refused to spell out what led to the delay in the printing of tickets at the Nasik press. The tickets reached Delhi just a day before the Oct 3 opening ceremony.

As the tickets came late, we were not able to provide them to spectators in time. Events of the initial days were affected, but later days were okay, the official said.

But it is not just spectators who were unable to get them. Many sports associations and federations have also complained that they were not given an adequate number of tickets by the Organising Committee in time.

We have been asking them for more tickets. We have made several requests this week. We hope to get tickets before the Games are over, said a source in the tennis federation.

Officials said the tickets for the first few days remained unsold. Obviously, they were not sold as the packets reached late. They were of no use. They were then sold off to scrap dealers, another official told IANS.